CAIRO, 18 June 2004 — The Saudi bourse, the Middle East’s largest in terms of capitalization, fell sharply in the trading week ended yesterday, hit by speculative selling, analysts said. The TASI index dropped 2.4 percent to 5,467.90 points from 5,602.51 last week.
Bakheet Financial Advisors said the decline was touched off by heavy speculative trade in Saudi Electricity Co., which plunged 6.6 percent. SEC fell 6.5 percent last week.
Al-Rajhi fell 2.6 percent, STC dropped two percent and SABIC gave up one percent. These three companies account for 46 percent of capitalization. For its part, the Beirut market plunged 4.4 percent, the largest drop in the region, on concerns over disagreement between Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri about how to deal with the country’s massive debt, estimated at $34 billion.
Beirut’s BSI index dropped to 585.73 points from 613.21 last Thursday. The KSE index in Kuwait, the region’s second-largest market after Saudi Arabia, surged 2.2 percent to 5,459.90 points from 5,343.00 on the prospect of strong first-half corporate earnings. The NBAD in the United Arab Emirates registered the strongest gain, adding 4.9 percent to 5,411.18 points from 5,158.09.
For its part, Oman’s MSM picked up two percent to 3,360.44 points from 3,291.84. Qatar’s CBQ fell 2.6 percent to 957.73 from 983.89 points.